


Under-the-World

by Jougetsu



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-28
Updated: 2009-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-05 09:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jougetsu/pseuds/Jougetsu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was fair and fitting that Demeter's daughter would transform the world around her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under-the-World

Far below the living soil is the ground of the dead. The world-under-the-world is the land reigned over by the lord god they call Pluton. At the onset of his dominion over the realm of the Underworld it was a simple place, little more than shadow and mist divided by the five great rivers. For eons he quietly presided over the kingdom of shades and little changed.

During her original confinement Persephone found the land to be the morbid reverse of the world she had known before. As the daughter of the goddess of growth she could not fathom that a place could exist where things did not grow. Those long months she walked each cavern and plain and along each of those dread rivers in search of life in any form. The lone pomegranate given to her by Pluton was the only such thing Persephone the prisoner experienced of life.

Upon her first return to Hades as consort and queen of the land something strange occurred. From her gown fell seeds from the world above and soon quite soon afterward growth occurred in the underworld. Meadows of asphodel flowers exploded into being where before were only barren plains. Persephone's heart gladdened and lightened at the sight, she was no longer a prisoner in a strange land for now she was its mistress.   
Pluton did not question the change wrought in his land. It was fair and fitting that Demeter's daughter would transform the world around her.

They ruled together as lord and lady of Hades from that time forward. Every mortal has met them when the Fates at long last cut one's thread of life, from the poorest of beggars to the greatest of kings. Those souls nearly every one of them who has entered the Lord and Lady's receiving hall has remained in the Underworld.

After many years of reign the world-under-the-world altered once more. Behind their receiving hall did a road begin and branched down three paths. One path went down, down into the dark recesses of Tartarus where Tantalus and Typhon among others were imprisoned. The second path wandered into the heart of the fields of asphodel while the third path led to a land unseen in the house of Hades before. That land was forever enshrined in springtime and twilit by soft stars that were ne'er to be seen in the world above. The lord was amazed and thought there was no more fitting a place to represent the majesty of his wife and consort.

Poets have called this place Elysium or the Elysian Fields though it is thought that lady herself or even her lord husband named it. It is also said that when Elysium appeared Pluton asked Persephone what ought be done. She replied,

"The good may go there."

**Author's Note:**

> In ancient times Hades was often not referred to by the name "Hades" but rather the name "Pluton" (The Wealthy One or Giver of Wealth). It seemed fitting for this story.
> 
> I was always intrigued by the evolution of early Erebus/Tartaros/Hades to the later delineated versions of the underworld in ancient Greek thought. While many choose to pick one version and stick with it, I fancied the idea of Persephone being the catalyst for an evolving Underworld.


End file.
